How Love of Rock and Dogged Determination Made Heart One of the Last True Rock Bands

On Saturday, June 14, the classic rock band Heart is due to perform at the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie as part of their summer leg of a nationwide tour called An Evening With Heart. For founding member, acclaimed guitarist and second vocalist Nancy Wilson, her lifetime commitment to music has been a journey unlike any other. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 along with her older sister, lead vocalist Ann Wilson, and the original band members, Heart is a group now spanning five decades, appealing to all generations of rock fans due in part to the Wilson sisters unwavering commitment to music and reinvention.

“The joke is that every rock band has a shelf life of five years,” Wilson says. “Five years go by, and you’re not cool anymore. In the beginning of the '80s, we were not cool, and then a few years later, here comes MTV, and we are making videos, and we’re cool again. It’s always been hard, and there’s a lot of sacrifice to it, so you have to be really dogged and really want it. It’s almost like that sign in the Wizard of Oz, but if you’re really hell-bent on taking the journey into the forest, it’s worth it.”

Heart’s decades-spanning success includes releasing several multiplatinum records featuring the iconic hits “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You,” and “Barracuda” in the mid-to-late '70s. This was followed by a string of major hits in the '80s, including “What About Love,” “Alone” and the Nancy Wilson-sung power ballad “These Dreams.” “You do really feel like a conduit when you’re channeling a song like ‘These Dreams,’” Wilson says. “It’s very ethereal to begin with and those lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. I had to fight for that song, but I got it, and it went number one.” Released in 1986 and from the band’s 1985 self-titled album, “These Dreams,” written by Taupin and Martin Paige, became Heart’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100. The recording of the track became a unique moment in the band’s career due to the presence of Sharon Hess in the recording studio. Hess, a terminally ill cancer patient and Heart fan, got to watch Wilson record vocal tracks for their biggest hit to date. Hess would later become part of the band’s mythology as Wilson would later dedicate the song to her on the album after she passed just days after the session.

Decades earlier the musical journey for the Wilson sisters would simply start by learning and playing the songs of their early heroes in their bedrooms. “Ann and I were singing Beatles songs along with things like Simon & Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary,” Wilson says. “These great songs become part of your history and the soundtrack of your life. I remember the first time I heard, ‘The Fool on a Hill,’ or ‘Fire and Rain.’ I’m excited that throughout our career, we were able to add to that and I find it so cool how songs can imprint through time.” However, through several iterations of the band, record label changes and a bad recording contract early in the group’s career, which by today’s standards would have sunk most bands, the sibling’s bond helped them persevere through the shady forests of the entertainment business.

The Wilson sisters are now considered to be cultural icons and pioneers for women in hard rock. “The fact that we had each other made all the difference,” Wilson says. “We were Marine Corp brats and proficient at what we did. We were good at it, so we didn’t feel like we needed to listen to a bunch of misogynistic ideas from some of the slimeballs in the industry.”

Another component of the Heart’s ability to remain timeless may come from the group’s artistic authenticity and unwavering commitment to their vision of what music means and its ability to unify audiences. “Unification in the arts is more important now than ever,” Wilson says. “I really appreciate someone like Taylor Swift for bringing so many cultures together. Music is unification, and when it happens, it feels meaningful, and the stage is a beautiful space to do that. When you go see a show, you don’t just hear it, you see it, all the magic created with sounds and colored lights, and it’s a whole thing. That sense of having a communal experience is hard to get.” As part of Wilson’s further commitments to musical experiences, discovering, promoting and collaborating with new artists has always been on the agenda. From working with now-famous grunge musicians early on in their careers to her current collaboration with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and recently starting an artist management company called Roadcase Management, Wilson’s work in music has remained constant. “It worked out pretty well,” Wilson says. “I don’t think I would have been good at anything else and definitely not math. Music is the math I want to do.”

For the Wilson sisters, this journey so far has created moments beyond their persons, which now live in the cultural fabric of decades past, present and future. “Walking out onstage together now, all those moments are so big, they filter through being a fan in the first place. I’m looking over at Ann and I’m like, ‘wow,’ but really, it’s about the love of music and the art from of making music and it’s a cool reciprocation. I feel so blessed about still doing this and how the songs have imprinted and it’s meaningful to have this gift.”

Heart still remains one of the most prolific and determined rock bands around. Their tenacity was shown in 2024 when they had to cancel the rest of their Royal Flush Tour due to Ann's cancer diagnosis, where she wrote, "This is merely a pause. I’ve much more to sing." In total, 57 dates for 2025 have shown their ability to decipher the complicated codes of cultural consciousness decade after decade, elevating them from classic to simply iconic.

“Bands like Heart, real rock bands, are some of the last rock bands to roam the Earth,” Wilson says. “I think part of it is dogged determination and just being deeply in love with the job. I love my rock job at the loud office.”

Heart will perform on Saturday, June 14, at 8:00 p.m. at Texas Trust CU Theatre, 1001 Performance Place, Grand Prairie. Tickets are available starting at $44.07 here.